Archives

Links

I Did Some Stuff During the War

The Man in the High Castle is exceptional television. With a compelling plot, its fascinating world intrigues, and horrifies, with each newly revealed detail.

The cast is largely strong and I was especially pleased to see Rufus Sewell among them. He’s a striking actor and cuts a fine (albeit evil) figure as he struts his stuff in a zippy Hugo Boss uniform. But it was a moment in episode six of season one, Three Monkeys, that demonstrated how much control is going into what could be a scenery chewing performance.

Obergruppenführer John Smith and Rudolph Wegener reminisce about the “good old days” after the war. Wegener insists that his old friend can’t have made peace with everything they did in “the camps”, that it must still haunt him. Smith doesn’t break Wegener gaze, his enormous eyes focused and still.

But beneath the unflinching gaze of a true fanatic, a tick begins around Sewell’s mouth. The twitches are tiny but they betray Smith, and hint at the vast, dark horror beneath the surface.

Need further proof that Sewell is rocking the role? Consider that Smith is still terrifying despite wearing a cardigan for the whole episode.

Other thoughts

In episode seven, Truth, Childan goes to dinner with the Kasouras who collect objects from America’s “dying culture”. One of the items in their collection is an Eames Lounge Chair.